[RaceyBoy]

Hi there,

First of all, apologies for my distinct lack of knowledge - I really am a novice with regards to these sort of technologies.

I've just bought a new house and am looking to get myself a new television, DVD player and audio system to go in it. Ideally, I'd like a 32" widescreen television, best value for money. I'm open to offers and advice with regards to the DVD player and audio system and how to connect them up. I have around £600-£700 to play with but could probably find some more if it's worth it.

I also have a Sky+ box and XBox I'd like to connect to the television.

Many thanks in advance,

Gav.

[markymark34]

my advice would be have a good look through the first 2 or 3 pages of posts you will find loads of posts on decent TVs.

If its £600 - £700 for everything then its going to be tight to get a decent 32" set a dvd player (cant go wrong with tosh/pioneer (have a look at richersounds.com)) and an audio system.

go to your local electrical shop see what u like the look of and we will do our best to offer advice.

mark

[RaceyBoy]

I now have a budget of around £1000.

I've had a bit of a look around. What do you think I should be setting aside for each component? That will give me a guideline for what kind of price range I should be looking at for each device.

Thanks for your reponse Mark.

[kismet110]

How about a Toshiba 32Z44 and a Denon 500SD all-in-one DVD/Audio system? The former retails for around £420 online, if you can get John Lewis to pricematch (they are currently selling it for £499) then you get free delivery and 5 year parts and labour too. One downside is no component input (which would be great as the Denon does progressive scan) but if you can live with RGB via SCART then that's not a problem

The Denon scores highly on the audio, visual and looks front and this sells for around the £400 mark too (am making plans to purchase one myself quite soon).

This leaves you £200 to spend on soemthing else!

ALI

[RaceyBoy]

Thank-you Kismet.

Would you recommend spending roughly equal amounts on the television and on the audio kit? I had heard good things about the Toshiba 32Z44 in terms of value for money.

I take it component input to the TV is of better quality than RBG scart. Are there any televisions in the rough price range that have component input? Is it worth trying to find one with it?

Is the Denon DVD player generally sold as multi-region?

Again, thanks for your advice.

[kismet110]

Generally speaking component is better than RGB but not always the case as some TV's seem to 'prefer' an RGB feed. Don't know any off the top of my head that are component-enabled AND about the same price, may be worth your while searching on this forum; as mentioned prog-scan DVD's require it so worth the effort I'm sure

Spending about the equal amount doesn't necessarily stand true, does really depend on what your priorities/preferences are; for example, you could easily spend 3K on a top plasma screen, match this with a decent all-in-one DVD/Audio system that costs a quarter of that price and be very happy with the whole setup.

The Denon is sold as multi-region by Hughes Direct and Peter Tyson, some of the others sell it R2 only.

ALI

[Zacabeb]

RGB and YPrPb are both component signals, even though it is the latter that is commonly referred to as component. Theoretically, the advantage of YPrPb over RGB is that it has a wider gamut, that is, color saturation is not limited by brightness as in RGB. In practice, this has little consequence as it almost never occurs.

The real-life advantages of YPrPb are that 1.) it's the native component format used for DVD Video and DTV, so the player does not need to perform conversion to RGB, and 2.) many displays use a YUV variant such as YPrPb for internal processing, in which case an RGB signal gets converted to YPrPb and then back to RGB for display.

So by using YPrPb component, you may skip redundant conversion steps and gain a bit of quality, but as a signal YPrPb is not really superior. It must be converted to RGB for display and almost always originates from an RGB source. Whether component cables perform better than the ancient SCART cable is a different story though.

[RaceyBoy]

Thanks again for both your advice.

Well, I plan to use the television for almost everything but I'd particularly like a good picture for DVDs. I also watch a lot of football on Sky. The sound system quality is important but I don't pretend to be an audio 'connoisseur'. I would like to get a decent surround-sound experience and be able to play my collection of CDs without having to worry about poor quality.

Sorry for being a bit vague, I just want to make sure I spend my grand wisely and not pick something willy-nilly!

Is progressive scan worth going for?

[kismet110]

Nothing wrong with wanting to spend your money wisely, I would too, especially a large amount of it like you are!

The Denon will give you very good PQ and sound, from what I've read the CD playback is OK too. Regards football via SKY, ensure that any TV you purchase has at least one RGB enabled SCART input, switch the output in your SKY box to RGB and connect the two using a good quality fully wired SCART cable.

Progressive Scan is worth going for, bear in mind though that if you go down this route then you'll need some audio cables too as component only carries video.

ALI

[RaceyBoy]

OK, I've gone ahead and ordered the Denon DHT500SD system and the Toshiba 32Z44B widescreen television. The Denon has been delivered and the Tosh is due tomorrow.

Can I ask for advice on how you would wire up the above with a Sky+ box and XBox?? Which types and makes of cable would you suggest?

Many thanks for your help so far.

[kismet110]

The Tosh has two SCART sockets but I can't remember if they're both RGB enabled. IF they are you can connect SKY+ to one of them and your Denon to the other (Denon has component out but Tosh has no component in).

X-Box can be connected via phono leads I presume?

ALI

[RaceyBoy]

Thanks Ali.

If the Tosh doesn't have a second RGB scart. What would you suggest?

[kismet110]

Then I'd suggest using the 2nd SCART on your SKY+ box as a loop-through for your Denon. I'm pretty sure that it passes through RGB signal, if not someone will soon post to correct me.

Other option is to get a fully-wired SCART switch and feed both the SKY+ and the Denon into this then connect to the RGB SCART on your Tosh.

If you also connect the SKY+ Audio out direct to the Denon Audion in (via optical or plain phono leads) you can utilise the Denon for sound when watching SKY+.

ALI

[markymark34]

the tosh only has 1 RGB.

[RaceyBoy]

Can anyone confirm that the Sky+ box passes through RGB signal on both SCARTS?

If not, how much are fully wired SCART switches and which retailers would you recommend?

Thanks again to you both.

[kismet110]

I purchased a simple SCART switcher from Maplins not too long ago (who incidentally also do well-priced stands that will work with your Denon speakers if you need them), was fully wired RGB, cost about £15.00 iirc and did the job no problem.

If you pay a bit more you can get ones that auto-switch to the active device.

Might be worth you posting the SKY+ RGB pass-thru query on the Satellite/FreeView forum if you get no response on here, or check the Reviews for your model?

ALI

[detorquemada]

Raceyboy, sorry to hijack the thread for a moment but could you tell me if the 32Z44B is NTSC compatible?

It's just that I'm getting conflicting information from shops & sites I've looked at.

Oh, and where did you purchase it from?

Thanks in advance.

[RaceyBoy]

Detorquernada, I believe it is NTSC compatible but haven't checked as yet.

Ali, are the speaker stands you were talking about, the 'surround speaker stands' for £14.99 on the Maplin website?

Thanks.

[detorquemada]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Any chance you could check NTSC compatibility soonish?

You see, I'd ordered a 32Z44 last night from ED (as I know it definitely has NTSC compatability & it was in stock at time of ordering) only to have them tell me this afternoon that they might not have them in for over a month - I cancelled.

I know I can get a 32Z44B from JL (with the 5 year warranty) but can't be sure of the NTSC compatibility as I've read conflicting information.

I specifically want the 32Z44(B) because of the footprint - we have a tiny living-room!!

Hope you can help - thanks

[kismet110]

Yep, it is those £14.99 surround sound speakers stands, I think it's another £2.50 for postage.

Whe I tred they'd run out of silver so I grudgingly went for black but they look fine. Also purchased the wall-mount ones for the front speakers in black a couple of weeks later, same price, although the supplied screws are too big for the Denon speakers so you'll have to buy some seperately.

ALI

[RaceyBoy]

I've cabled up my system with the Denon box running through the second SCART on the Sky+ box. I've also connected phono cables from the Sky+ box to the Denon box for audio.

However, when I turn on the Denon box, the display changes from Sky to the Denon.

How can I watch Sky and also put the sound through the Denon box (and speakers)?

[Jerrysimon]

RaceyBoy,

Did you order the Tosh from JL. Will they price match ? I am thinking of getting one of them too

Regards

Jerry

[Hotshot147]

Raceboy

I also would like the 32z44 Tosh.
Did you get a pricematch through John Lewis.
Hows the picture through Sky.

Regards.

Chris...

[markymark34]

raceboy how is the geometry on your tv? I went through 4 44z tvs before finally giving up on them!